me too...i'm pretty sure my next tires will be the big blocks....or maybe darkside and big block....idk yet...i've been happy with my tourances for all my road and light off-road and commuting...but i want to do a little more rough stuff if you know what i mean...

I just got a set of Full Bore M40 radials. I have been using Anakee 2s. On the second set. I get about 15k miles. So trying a cheaper tire for variety. The Anakee's work great on the road. Work well on gravel, dirt and rocky roads. So in a few thousand miles I'll be changing and can start a comparison with a couple of pictures. It not far has the Anakee tread is way down.

I just returned from three of us riding six days, 875 miles, in the Dominican Republic on stroms with Anakee 2 tires. They did great for us:

Dry high speed highways

Dry mountain twisties

Heavy rain mountain twisties with mud and gravel

Dry and wet unpaved roads under construction

Straight on into deep potholes at speed (when there is no other place to go, you gott'a hit 'em straight on)

Fording washed out roads with water over the pegs and loose rock base

One of the washouts was shaped underwater something like the Nike Swoosh...easy slope down one side, water over the pegs, and a steep slope to get out.

Anyway, the Anakee 2's got us through it. When they slipped, the slip and regaining of traction was smooth, not sudden. Much better than the original Failwings. Yes, full knobbies would have been better in the deep loose stuff but not on the 140 km/hr high speed roads.

I just returned from three of us riding six days, 875 miles, in the Dominican Republic on stroms with Anakee 2 tires. They did great for us:

Dry high speed highways

Dry mountain twisties

Heavy rain mountain twisties with mud and gravel

Dry and wet unpaved roads under construction

Straight on into deep potholes at speed (when there is no other place to go, you gott'a hit 'em straight on)

Fording washed out roads with water over the pegs and loose rock base

One of the washouts was shaped underwater something like the Nike Swoosh...easy slope down one side, water over the pegs, and a steep slope to get out.

Anyway, the Anakee 2's got us through it. When they slipped, the slip and regaining of traction was smooth, not sudden. Much better than the original Failwings. Yes, full knobbies would have been better in the deep loose stuff but not on the 140 km/hr high speed roads.

After a year of hard use on widely varied types of roads you described on 11 DL650's, I have nothing but high praise on Anakee2's. I even had a slip on hard right uphill blind curve on a nasty stretch of oil-covered mountain road on the way to the Haiti border...rear slipped a foot sideways at 60kph, an "oh spit" moment, then easy recovery (of course I slowed down a lot and had to check my skivvies at the next stop.)

2 miles of hilly, curvy pea-gravel pre-pavement construction on compacted clay: no problem taking it easy. Slick gray mud and potholes on a curve: just fine. 5km bypass detour with larger gravel: piece of cake. Carving a 230 turn, 20km, 4500' elevation change mountain road in a fast sprint: right at home, bike feels like it's on rails.

GREAT tire for the 'Strom. In fact so excellent that when I replace the fleet with more 'Stroms, I'll bite the bullet and change the stock TrailWings to Anakee2's on Day 1. For us, in the highly diverse riding conditions of this amazing country, the Dominican Republic, they are the right tire for the job...

I was doing some tire research on the Mitas E07s as I can pick them up just across the border not far from home.
I ran across a recall notice recently posted by Mitas affecting the E07s. Not huge numbers of them, but if you are riding on one of the bad ones, one is enough.

Prague, 21 December 2012 – The Czech tyre producer Mitas is voluntarily recalling 1,752 tubeless E-07 motorcycle tyres from the market. These tyres were sold to customers mostly in Europe. The tyre sizes subject to recall are,

Under extreme conditions the affected tyres can suddenly loose air pressure.

Customers can determine whether their tyre is subject to recall by checking the brand name “MITAS”, tyre name “E-07,” inscription “tubeless” and DOT codes ranging from 0111 through to 4812, on the tyre sidewall. No other Mitas tyres are affected.

The recalled tyres were made in the Czech Republic.

The recall follows a quarantine of stocks at tyre dealers. All customers are advised to contact the point of purchase to discuss options for replacement. The improved E-07 tyres will be made available at sales points in February 2013.

Mitas has notified the Czech Trade Inspection Authority which is expected to submit the notice to the EU-wide RAPEX system. Non-EU authorities will be informed in due course.

The DOT marking is a combination of numbers and letters, and it identifies the tyre production plant and date of production. The manufacturing date is a four number code following the plant code. The date code signifies the week and year of production. For example, the DOT code “6J 0512” is shown on a tyre which was manufactured in Mitas’ Zlin factory (code 6J) in the 5th week of 2012. The DOT code is always shown on the sidewall for easy identification. The recalled DOT range of 0111 through to 4812 contains tyres made from January 2011 (0111) to November 2012 (4812).

MITAS a.s is one of Europe’s leading producers of agricultural tyres. Mitas manufactures and sells tyres under three brand names: the company’s own Mitas and Cultor, and Continental under licence. In addition, MITAS a.s. produces and distributes a wide range of Mitas-branded industrial and motorcycle tyres. MITAS a.s. is a member of ČGS HOLDING a.s. and operates three production plants in the Czech Republic, one in Serbia and one in the USA, and maintains a global sales and distribution network.

Was having bad front end wobble on an old (7 year old, 5k+ mile) stock TrailWing. I've since replaced it with a great pair of Dunlop Trailmax tires, which are I'd say, 95% street oriented.

After the change i realized the handling issues I was having with the old Trailwings was probly mostly due to the uneven (and normal) wear on the tread pattern.

A lot of the 75/25 street/offroad tires tend to have these 'blocks' of tire, arranged in uneven strips or "columns". Sorry I don't have a picture to illustrate. The center column seemed to be made of a harder compound to resist wear, while both side columns made to increase grip.

So inevitably after five thousand miles or so, there's a "shelf" when transitioning from the center column to either side column, which is experienced as a shudder in the steering when entering and exiting turns. The more the tire wears, the greater the shudder.

The center-line tire wobble had to do with the center block "column" being irregular, creating a contact patch with jagged edges as I rode straight.

With the new Dunlops, having no tread block columns, I notice a faint desire for the front end to start oscillating at those certain mid-range speeds, but it's yet to runaway into a would-be tank slapper.

However, add a heavy/asymmetric rear biased load to the bike, and/or a heavy passenger, and I expect the wobble to be more pronounced.

So in summary, I've found new tires greatly improved the speed wobble problem, but also that the nature of the Vee-beast makes it susceptible to a shaky front end, and it doesn't take much to push it over that edge.

Certain things can be done to help (tighten head bearings), but it'll never be a performance race bike; only a tall bulky do-it-all sport.

I'm thoroughly enjoying the Dunlop's and would highly recommend them to any Vstrom owner who rides mostly street; we'll see how they wear..

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